Introduction

Budgeting is the central means of creating the road map for a program year and implementing program goals and objectives. It is the financial part of good planning for any organization and should be done annually with goal setting and objective planning sessions. Thoughtful planning, including setting goals, objectives, and budget parameters, is essential to effectively and efficiently managing Early Childhood programs.

The coordinator is responsible for developing a budget that is fiscally responsible, supports the program philosophy, and aligns community needs with the use of resources. This means that the coordinator should be actively involved in the development of the program budget. To be effective in this area, the coordinator must be knowledgeable about the budgeting process, i.e., the district, state and federal guidelines and statutes for budgeting, spending, and reporting. Working closely with school district or organization finance personnel helps assure compliance with both local district
procedures and state and/or federal statutes. Budgeting is a straightforward process that uses basic mathematics. All coordinators can develop the skills needed to create and manage an effective program budget.

If you are looking for your funding amounts (e.g. ECFE, School Readiness), go to the Aid Calculations tab

Aid Calculations

Minnesota Funding Reports (MFR): The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Program Finance area created the Minnesota Funding Reports (MFR) to provide state, district, school and program level funding information. An interactive search for MFR reports is available by school district, category, year and report. Click Here

School Finance

School Finance - Minnesota Department of Education
The School Finance Division at the Minnesota Department of Education provides resources to Minnesota schools and districts to help them improve or maintain their financial health. Financial management assistance and training are also offered. The division implements state and federal education funding policies, and provides assistance to districts and schools to understand and implement these policies at the local level. MDE also works closely with the Governor and the Legislature to promote the enactment of sound preK-12 education funding policies by providing relevant data and analysis to policymakers.Click Here or http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/dse/schfin/

Sample Budgets

Uniform Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards (UFARS)

UFARS: Minnesota school districts, charter schools, cooperative districts, area learning centers, private alternative schools and nonpublic schools are required by law to prepare financial reports and annual budgets. The Uniform Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards (UFARS) is an integral part of the accounting and reporting process for school districts.Click Here or http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/dse/schfin/fin/UFARS/ for more information.

Budgeting and Program Planning

Introduction

Budgeting plays an essential role in many aspects of early childhood programming and services. Indeed, maybe no other factor has a bigger impact on what you can do and provide. From a macro level, budgeting affects both program quantity and quality. Legal or funding requirements accompany the funds you receive, and you have to provide proof or assurances that you are meeting these requirements. Because of these requirements and the role that budgeting plays in program quality, and since no one has an endless amount of funds, we have to be intentional and strategic on how we utilize our funds. The information, resources, and tools in this set of tabs are designed to help you plan your program/programming from a budgeting perspective.

Phase 1: Planning & Design Team

Begin with the end in mind - your overall goal should be to create and implement cohesive, coherent early childhood system*. Certainly, the program you design and implement should be high-quality with a focus on continual improvement. Also, keep in mind that our K-12 system has existed longer than our early childhood systems (e.g., child care, school-based, Head Start). Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that children are successful in school and life. So, we should always be considering the alignment (i.e., how things align on paper, like plans, learning standards, and professional development) and coherence (i.e., how well alignment occurs in action) of these systems.
*An example of a system is PreK-3rd grade. A program would be an element of a system (e.g., ECFE is a program that is a part of a PreK-3 system. Little Sunshine child care center would be a program that could be part of your PreK-3 system.).

Potential Planning Team Members
Before getting started, plan out who needs to be involved, at what points/stages, and what their role will be.
For example:

Superintendent and/or School Board: Likely limited but critical in setting the stage. For example, what is their vision and priorities for early childhood programs? How much support will be provided to early childhood programs (e.g., space, human resources, availability of additional funds like literacy aid, etc.).

Business Manager/Finance Director: Likely very involved in the beginning and at the end. For example, business manager sets the stage with regard to the total amount of funds that are available and any limitations to how these funds are used. After programs and services are designed, business manager involved in building budgets.

Community Education Director: Varies depending on the district, but may be very involved throughout process. In some cases, he/she may be leading the process. Will be essential in Fund 04 programs and services in addition to facilitating community partnerships.

Principals: Varies depending on the district, but principals should be highly engaged during the planning of programming and services. Principals play a vital role contributing to the alignment of standards, curricula, and assessments. Principals should also be involved in other areas of alignment, like professional development and strategic plans. In some districts, principals may also play a role in teacher evaluation. Another area of essential involvement is the availability of elementary resources to early childhood programs (e.g., space, specialists, etc.).

Special Education Director: Varies depending on the district, but should be very involved to the extent that it can be ensured that programs are building inclusive programming and services. Also, the SPED director also needs to be involved in budgeting to determine if/how special education funds contribute, as well as processes and policies regarding funding and early childhood program operations.

Director of Teaching and Learning: Varies depending on the district, but should be very involved with planning to ensure alignment with K-12 teaching and learning.

Other Directors: Consult with other directors in the district as needed. Examples are transportation, food service, MARSS, HR, etc.

Community Partners: Varies depending on the district, but should be prioritized. Examples include child care providers, Head Start, health care, social services, and others who impact the learning and development of children throughout the birth to grade three learning continuum.

Parents: It is essential that you have representation from parents.

It is recommended that you have a smaller core team and then bring in those with specialized knowledge/roles as needed.

Phase 2: Data/Information Gathering

The goal during this phase is to gather key data/information that will be necessary to design your program/system.
Before embarking on your data gathering journey, it is important to describe your organization's mission, goals, values, and priorities, as these will be driving many of your decisions (e.g., which data/information to prioritize, ensuring expectations are met, etc.). Later, during the design phase, you will be developing the mission, goals, values, etc., of your PreK-3 system.

Examples of questions to consider (with each question also determine the data you will need to help address the question):

What are our district's/organization's goals?

What early childhood programs and services do we currently provide to children and families?

What are the purposes and requirements of these programs and services?

What are the gaps in our current programming and services (e.g., access, intensity, space, etc.)?

How will our program help prepare all children for kindergarten? How will our program help close achievement gaps (and what gaps exist or persist)?

How does our program meet the needs of families in our community?

What are our priorities?

What are our values?

What are the elements of high-quality early childhood programs?

Who should be involved in the design and implementation of our programs/services?

Who will be responsible for seeing the project through to completion?

Will we have a core team? If so, who?

Who needs to be involved to provide support, data, assistance, etc.?

What are our goals for collaborating with other early childhood programs/services (child care, ECSE, Head Start, etc.)?

How can we work together to ensure that children experience cohesive, coherent programming and services throughout the early learning continuum?

Phase 3: Design and Implementation Stage

Design
After you have collected data, you are ready to start designing your system, which should be a PreK-3 system covering the developmental continuum prenatal to third grade. Ultimately, your system is aligning with K-12, so you always want to be cognizant of how your system is aligning with K-12. When making decisions, consider how K-12 operates and look for ways to align or be consistent with K-12 operations, goals, practices, etc. At the same time, it is critical that your design take into consideration the strengths of early childhood systems. For example, early childhood programs do a much better job on family engagement than K-12. Also, your PreK-3 system will be built on cross-sector work, creating a mixed-delivery system. Cross-sector work is often a weakness in the K-12 system, but needs to be a strength in your PreK-3 system. In summary, the strengths of both systems should be prioritized as you design your system. Since the end goal is creating a coherent, comprehensive system for all children in your district, you need to consider how children and families will experience this system each step of the way.

Meet with Design Team (likely will have members from planning team, but will be comprised of those who can design program, services, and system).

Start by working on creating a program that you think will best meet the needs and wants of children and families in your district. Again, while working these out on paper, you want to ensure alignment among your program and needs at various levels (e.g., child, families, schools, district, and community) throughout the learning continuum (before birth through grade three).

After you have created your ideal program/system, you will need to cost it out by using the Budget Tool (at the end of the process, it is very likely that you will not have enough funds to implement everything, so you will have to pare down your plan).

After you have itemized costs, conduct a cost-benefit analysis of each element. Returning to your data gathering will help you determine what to prioritize. For example, if access is an obstacle in your community, transportation may be a priority. If space is an obstacle, you may determine that you need to target your programming to children with higher needs (noting that you will be able to scale up as more funding/space becomes available - or prioritizing collaboration so that slots are increased throughout early childhood programs in the community).

Suggestions

Start small, build on success

Design and implement in stages ("Rome wasn't built in a day")

Consult with other districts/communities on their process of building PreK-3 systems

Implementation

Phase 4: Evaluation Stage

Blending and BraidingBlending and Braiding Early Childhood Program Funding Streams Toolkit: Enhancing Financing for High-Quality Early Learning ProgramsClick Here, Ounce of Prevention, November 2013

PreK-3rd: What is the Price Tag?Click Here, Foundation for Child Development

Program QualityEarly Ed Essentials: Testing New Surveys to Inform Program ImprovementClick Here, Ehrlich, S.B., Pacchiano, D.M., Stein, A.G., & Wagner, M.R. (2018). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and the Ounce of Prevention Fun

Essential Organizational Supports for Early Education: The Development of a New Survey Tool to Measure Organizational ConditionsClick Here, University of Chicago Consortium on School Research